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THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS
Monday, 11 July 2005
Other Environment News 
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G8 calls for new climate dialogue (BBC)
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Accord minimal sur le climat (Nouvel Observateur)
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G-8 summit: India unhappy over environment initiatives (NDTV)
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Environment Ministry looks to use groundwater to cool down big cities in summer (Mainichi Daily News)
 Environmental News from the UNEP Regions
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ROAP
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ROA
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ROWA
Other UN News
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UN Daily News of 8 July 2005
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S.G.’s Spokesman Daily Press Briefing of 8 July 2005
Communications and Public Information, P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, KenyaTel: (254-2) 623292/93, Fax: [254-2] 62 3927/623692, Email:cpiinfo@unep.org, http://www.unep.org
 
 
UNEP and the Executive Director in the News
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Sir Edmund urges climate care (BBC)
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La contaminación del aire provoca el 25% de las muertes y el 33% de lasenfermedades, según Medio Ambiente (Europa Press)
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 New book has EROS photos (Associated Press State & Local Wire)
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Prix d’excellence pour l’Algérie (El Watan)
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L’Algérie reçoit le prix d’excellence de l’ONU (Liberté-Algérie)
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OSCE-NATO meeting in Ukraine focuses on disposal of dangerous rocket fuel( Noticias.info)
 
BBC: Sir Edmund urges climate care
By Richard Black 10 July 2005Conqueror of Everest Sir Edmund Hillary has urged world governments to protect theHimalayas from climate change.The World Heritage Committee, which supervises protection of sites of special interest, meetsthis week.Environmental campaigners, backed by Sir Edmund, want the committee to put the Sagarmatha National Park in the Himalayas on its danger list.This would mean governments are legally bound to protect it - which, they say, means cuttinggreenhouse gas emissions.In May 1953 Sir Edmund Hillary joined forces with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on the firstsuccessful ascent of the world's highest mountain.
'Severe floods'
Ever since, he has devoted much time to projects which help the peoples of the Himalayas. Now, a few days short of his 86th birthday, he is turning his attention to climate change."The warming of the environment of the Himalayas has increased noticeably over the last 50years," he wrote in a statement sent to the BBC."This has caused several and severe floods from glacial lakes and much disruption to theenvironment and local people."In 1985, the Dig Tsho glacial lake burst its banks, releasing a mountainside deluge which rushedthrough villages, bringing down 14 bridges.
'Thousands at risk'
Three years ago, a study by the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) and theInternational Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (Icimod) found more than 40 glaciallakes were filling so rapidly that a similar outburst was likely.Tens of thousands of lives were at risk, it concluded, with Unep's Executive Director KlausToepfer describing the situation as "another compelling reason to reduce emissions of carbondioxide and other greenhouse gases".Petitions before Unesco's World Heritage Committee this week as it meets in Durban, SouthAfrica, are seeking to force action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.Every year the committee can decide whether to award places of special natural, archaeologicalor cultural interest the status of a World Heritage Site, and whether to add any of those sites toits "danger list".By ratifying the World Heritage Convention, nations acknowledge that "such heritageconstitutes a world heritage for whose protection it is the duty of the international community asa whole to co-operate".
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They also undertake to ensure that World Heritage Sites are kept fit for future generations, and"not to take any deliberate measures which might damage directly or indirectly the cultural andnatural heritage".
Protective measures
Environmental campaigners are saying that the 180 nations which have ratified the WorldHeritage Convention have a legal duty to protect Sagarmatha, as well as Huascaran NationalPark in Peru and the Belize Barrier Reef, from the impacts of climate change."Firstly, we will be asking the World Heritage Committee to look carefully at the petitions andurging it to add the sites to the danger list," Peter Roderick - the Director of Climate Justice, theorganisation coordinating the petitions - told BBC News."This will ensure that they receive the higher level of protection they urgently need, such asassessing and making safe glacial lakes in the Himalayas and the Andes."Secondly, we want the committee to review compliance with the parties' duty under the WorldHeritage Convention to transmit World Heritage Sites to future generations. Plainly, withoutdrastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, this legal obligation will not be met."It is not clear how much support Climate Justice has among governments represented on theWorld Heritage Committee.The British government did not respond to a BBC request to make its position known.But the view of the first man to stand on the roof of the world is unequivocal."I support the petition to the Unesco World Heritage Committee... requesting the inclusion of Sagarmatha National Park in the list of World Heritage in Danger as a result of climate changeand for protective measures and action." ____________________________________________________________________________ 
Europa Press: La contaminación del aire provoca el 25% de las muertes y el 33% de lasenfermedades, según Medio Ambiente
[appears in
 Diario Siglo XXI, Rebelion, Hispanidad, Fuerteventura Digital, Diario Malga Hoy, Diario de Sevilla,
...]9.07.2005
Redacción / EP
La contaminación, principalmente la de la calidad del aire, provoca el 25 por ciento de lasmuertes y el 33 por ciento de las enfermedades. Así, en Europa se producen al año 32000fallecimientos al año por exposición a sustancias cancerígenas, según datos ofrecidos hoy eldirector general de Calidad y Evaluación Ambiental del Miniserio de Medio Ambiente, JaimeAlejandre.En el ámbito laboral, 440000 personas mueren por contacto con agentes químicos. Sin embargo,de las más de 100.000 sustancias existentes en la Unión Europea, 350 de ellas cancerígenas y3.000 alergénicas declaradas, sólo 17 tienen aplicadas medidas de gestión de riesgo, explicóAlejandre en su intervención en un seminario celebrado hoy en Madrid sobre la futura directivaeuropea relativa al Registro, Evaluación y Autorización de Sustancias Químicas (REACH).
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